Taken
by HecateA
Summary: How and what Tom woke up to when Merope started withholding the love potions. Oneshot.


**Author's Note: **Hi everyone! This is one of the only times I have freaked myself out writing something, but I'm still quite proud of it because I think this is a plot point in HP we all kind of glossed over for whatever reason. I ask that you please take the warning seriously.

**Disclaimer: **The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

**Warnings: **Canonical sexual violence (Voldemort's origin story, Tom Riddle Sr. under a love potion); sexual assault facilitated by drugs; marital rape; loss of memory and time

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**Stacked with: **MC4A; Hogwarts

**Individual Challenge(s): **Misunderstood; Potions Aren't Consent; Slytherin MC; Buzzing Bee; Old Shoes; Location, Location, Location; Themes & Things A (Injustice); Themes & Things B (Captivity); In a Flash; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux

**Word Count: **725

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_**Hogwarts Submitting Info**_

**House: **Ravenclaw

**Assignment: **Assignment #1, Criminology, Task #4 Alt: Write a story set at a crime scene (or a place that becomes a crime-scene during the story)

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**Taken**

When Tom woke up, a piercing pain dashed from one side of his head to the other and turned his vision fuzzy.

"Easy, love," a soft voice next to him said. He felt equally soft hands on his shoulder push him back down onto an even softer bed. Morpheus' arms called to him, but something felt wrong. Something deep inside of him was yelling and though it felt far away, echoey even, Tom wanted to answer. He wanted to crane his neck and focus his hearing to catch the cries of this faraway instinct.

"Where am I?" he managed to say. His mouth felt pasty and his throat dry, as if he had not had a drink of water in a hundred years.

"You're home, my love," the soft voice said. Tom squinted through the pain and caught a glimpse of a face—a woman's face, round and framed by brown hair. "In our bedroom, the safest place in the world."

"What home?" Tom said. He managed to crane his neck, his eyes sweeping the room he was in. The walls were covered in an olive green wallpaper, the furniture was a wood that seemed to be made of oak, and pristine white curtains were drawn over the windows. Something was terribly wrong.

"I have never seen this place before," Tom managed to say.

"Yes you have," the woman said, pushing back the hair from his forehead. "Do not worry; the memories will come back soon. The withdrawal from the potion is difficult, that is all…"

"What potion?" Tom asked. "And who are you?"

"I'm Merope," she said. "Do you not remember? Do not worry; it will all come back."

Tom tried looking through his memories, but everything felt blurry and the pain in his head cracked as sharply as a whip whenever he went looking.

"You are the Gaunt girl," he said. "You came out of the hut to watch us ride by nearly every day, my brother and I…"

"You do remember," she smiled. She took his hand and kissed his knuckles. "That was so long ago, my love. That was before… before so much. We are so much more now."

"Why are you here?" Tom said. He looked around the room again. He could swear he had never seen it before; he had no idea why his favourite pair of boots was by the door or why he was laying there. He tried sitting up, and Merope pushed him down again.

"Be careful not to hurt yourself," she said quietly.

"Where are my parents?" Tom asked.

"At their home," Merope said. "Tom, this is _our_ home. Remember?"

Tom turned to look at her and that was when he saw the wedding ring that glinted on her finger. Merope noticed where his eyes were lingering and she smiled, taking the ring off and holding it up to him.

"You got me this. Remember? And then we moved here, made a home for each other."

Tom blinked.

"You must be mad," he said.

"No, love," she said. "You are just remembering slowly. That is all."

Tom's heart beat in his throat.

"Where have you taken me?" Tom asked, trying not to let the fear permeate his voice.

"Nowhere, love," Merope said. "You came with me. You… you love me."

He had heard rumours about the Gaunt family. Rumours he had always relegated to that status, but now his instincts were screeching and he had to go. He had to leave this olive-coloured room he had never seen before, get away from this woman he did not know, from the things she was saying that he did not understand…

The fear and the urge to go became too great. He pushed himself away from her and sluggishly, painfully, pulled himself up. He nearly fell out of bed.

"Tom!" she said. "Tom, you will hurt yourself, love!"

Tom struggled to get to his feet and turned back to look at her, wondering how fast he could get to the door—how quickly he could get out of this house—how far he was from his parents' home or somewhere he knew or someone he could trust…

Merope had stood up on her side of the bed too. That was when he noticed the swelling of her belly under her nightgown, an undeniable…

"What have you done to me?" Tom breathed.


End file.
